Category Archives: Courses

I just recorded a welcome video for my upcoming course – The Joy-Seeker’s Treasure Hunt – and thought it was a great way to introduce you to the class itself. If you are thinking about joining in, this will give you a sense of where I’m coming from!

Art has always been my native tongue. It helps me elevate my sense of wonder, attune my eyes for delight and connect with my heart. It is also the surest way for me to buoy myself and get out of whatever funk, despair or loss of perspective I might have. Walking with my camera has always been my medicine. Maybe it works wonders for you too?

After watching that Ted Talk about joy I mentioned in my last post (Where Joy Hides and How to Find it) I had a light bulb moment – this is what I do! I am a joy-seeker. I find little sparks of delight and joy through my camera! And this is what I always hope to bring to you as well – an accessible way to pivot toward joy, to put our attention on beauty and color and things that remind of the goodness in the world.

What I want is to open up. I want to know what’s inside me. I want everybody to open up. I’m like an imbecile with a can-opener in his hand, wondering where to begin – to open up the earth. I know that underneath the mess everything is marvelous. I’m sure of it.

I know it because I feel so marvelous myself most of the time. And when I feel that way everybody seems marvelous… everybody and everything… even pebbles and pieces of cardboard… a match stick lying in the gutter… anything… a goat’s beard, if you like. That’s what I want to write about… and then we’re all going to see clearly, see what a staggering, wonderful, beautiful world it is.” -Henry Miller

The fun begins Monday, July 30th. Just $49 to get your joy on!

I’ve been doing a little experiment lately. Whenever I feel anxious, stressed or just generally crunchy, I ask myself the following question: What if you let it be easy? How could this be more fun?

These might sound like ridiculous questions. Especially in situations that are absolutely not easy at all and zero on the fun meter. But you know what these questions do? They put me in a state of curiosity. They open up a space of inquiry where I am no longer thinking my habitual thoughts. These two little questions help me open up to the possibility of ease and joy without having to change my circumstances at all.

Yesterday, as I was writing for my new course Summer School (starts Monday!) I noticed I was feeling stressssssed… and crunchy and stuck. I called a friend to help me think through the flow of the lessons and the conceptual ideas behind the class. As I was giving her a monologue about ease and self-compassion, I stopped myself.

“Wait a minute!” I said to her. “I’m trying to design this class in the mindset of struggle – of trying to get it perfect, trying to prove that there is a rigor behind all of my totally delightful (and silly) prompts. I’m already coming from a place of lack. The stress is about fear… But this class is about FUN! It’s about pivoting towards ease and joy + letting go of whatever is in the way of that.”

“Problems cannot be solved with the same thinking we used when we created them.” Albert Einstein

I started telling her about all of the delicious things we were going to do together – The Smilympics! Paint chip poetry! Foraging for color! and when I connected to my authentic joy, I got more clear:

Play has no purpose!
It is an end in and of itself.
It’s about seeing the world again with creative eyes.
It’s about seeing your life as a poem. A story. Something juicy and colorful and worthy of enjoying.

My intention for this class is to give you an experience of creative play – a whole month of it in fact! Consider this your experiment in cultivating more ease + joy in your life. So excited to do this together. Thank you for being with me in my joy!! xo Andrea

I was in Colorado all weekend for my nephew Caleb’s bar mitzvah. (That’s Caleb and I in the photo above) The day started off full of sunshine – complete with sundresses and bare feet – but by the afternoon there were tiny balls of ice pouring from the sky! What the what?

So we did what any curious Californians would do – we ran outside with a mason jar! Nico grabbed a handful of ice and put it in his mouth, Ben stuck his hand inside the jar until it was numb and I giggled and felt more alive than usual for having run outside in a hail storm. I love how kids understand this intuitively… that to experience wonder fully, all the senses are necessary.

Another highlight of my trip was spending time with my sister’s niece Hannah. She is an incredible artist and poet who just graduated from college + is a total kindred spirit. She leads a poetry camp for girls each summer in Bolinas, CA (hit reply if you want more deets on this) and as she was telling me about it – tea parties, poetry walks, fairy houses – I realized that I do something similar for grownups!

We are reminding ourselves and each other to see the world through creative eyes.

We are connecting in deep ways to our spirits and nourishing ourselves with color and play and the joy of being with others. Simple things. But things that get lost in the busy busy.

I wish we could all be in the same room for a tea party. We would eat pastries + drink earl grey + tell each other stories. We would walk through the streets capturing the beauty we find. We would write love notes and paste them on mirrors in public restrooms. We would remind each other that it’s okay to be imperfect, to not have it all together… and that we don’t have to pretend for each other.

Get this! I was contemplating one of the creative photo prompts for the course – thinking about how we might be able to find things in the world that match the color palette of what we are wearing on a given day.Sort of like your own personal camouflage… where if you stood in front of a bright pink wall for example, you might blend in.I wondered if it was too complex, when lo and behold, the woman in line in front of me at the grocery store said, “Sorry, gotta just grab one more thing!” No problem, I replied.

She returned with a bunch of beets in her hand. “Oh my goodness!” I practically shouted. “You match those beets perfectly!”

I explained that I am a photographer and teach creative courses and that I was contemplating a prompt just like this… she let me take her photo and then beamed at me the whole way out of the store. It’s possible I made her day + I know she made mine. Just a simple moment of spontaneous connection with a stranger (where I got to share my delight in all things creativity and color) was pure gold to me.

It was also a beautiful nod from the Universe. Go girl! it seemed to say. You’re on the right track!

In a world that often overwhelms, that makes me want to crawl under the covers and hide, creative play is a balm. It nourishes me in the best possible ways.

It reminds me of who I am at my core.
It reminds me of my aliveness and my joy.
And when I feel like I’ve lost my sparkle, it helps me discover it again.

If your heart did a little leap when you saw the lady with the beets, this class is for you. Or if you’ve lost your sparkle, please join me in this creative adventure.

Is it possible that the things we consider flaws in ourselves can actually be our gifts? Is it possible that by embracing those places we try to suppress, hide from the world, feel ashamed by, we can alchemize them into something like a superpower? Could they actually be our gold?

For this alchemy to work, you first need to bring an open mind. Consider this a thought experiment, something to try on, not something to necessarily take home. You only get to take it home if it feels resonant, like an authentic YES for you. Otherwise, you get to let it go.

Ready? Let’s begin.

1.Choose a part of yourself you might be trying to fix. A perceived flaw. Something you try to hide from the world and feel embarrassed by. (You don’t have to pick the heaviest one, maybe start with something less charged)

2. Imagine how this part of you can be a gift. Literally, just use your imagination and riff on how this could be true, how this part of you is actually a gift. Make it up. Pretend. Act as if. And write for 5 minutes quickly.

3. Take it a step further. How is this piece of you actually your gold? How is this part of you essential in the work you do in the world? In the way you are of service? How is this piece of you JUST RIGHT?

Here are some examples:

One of my favorite coaching clients came to me with a lot of shame about how she didn’t want to be social, how she felt like she was always faking it, how she didn’t want to be out in the world in the way that the world was asking of her. She was feeling crabby about it.

“What if there’s nothing to fix about you?” I asked. “What if the truth (that you don’t want to leave your house much these days except for walks in nature) is neutral? What if there’s nothing wrong with you?”

There was a pause on the other end of the line. “Ohhhhh….” she said… and I could feel the wheels turning in her mind.

“What if you’re a radical introvert? Someone who needs a lot of quiet and time alone to fill yourself up. This is how you get energy and feel resourced for when you are out in the world.”

The idea that she was a radical introvert was a game changer. No shame. Totally neutral. And actually, maybe even something to celebrate.

What are the gifts in this? We mused together.

She is a writer. She is a reader. She has big capacity for stillness and contemplation. She wants to write a book and will be able to do this because she craves the time a writer needs to sit in the quiet with her thoughts and words.

She is also a wise and gentle being. (Especially when she gets what she needs from her radical introvert time!) She can be of service most when she nourishes herself this way. Her radical introversion is her GOLD. Not everyone can sit with their words/thoughts this way. She can.

Here’s another example:

My friend Mati Rose is an incredible artist and painting teacher. As we walked recently, I told her about this lesson. “Let’s try it out on you!” I suggested. “What part of you do you feel embarrassed about or try to hide?”

“Ugh. I’m disorganized. I’m messy. I feel like I gotta get my shit together. I feel like I’m flying by the seat of my pants all the time. I’m the opposite of Type A, I’m Type B! Whatever that is!”

“Okay,” I responded, “what are the gifts of being Type B?”

“Hmmm…. Well, I’m very spontaneous. We wouldn’t be taking this walk if I wasn’t spontaneous! (We had texted each other just minutes before we decided to meet) And it takes some willingness to be messy to do the work I do. To do abstract painting you have to be comfortable not knowing where you are going. You have to be willing to literally get messy, paint all over the place, to get somewhere interesting. You have to trust the mess, to trust the process, to get to something authentic.”

She got stuck there. Her inner critics started to creep in. So I told her what I saw:

“The process of creating is imperfect and messy. Your willingness to not be perfect gives your people so much space to be their real, human selves. You offer so much compassion to them because you know that the best work comes from when you are able to let go of doing it “right” and tolerate being the unknown/in the mess for a while. If you needed everything tied up in a bow all the time, you wouldn’t have any capacity for the intuitive painting process.

The ways you are Type B, make you a really safe place to try something new. It feels gentle and compassionate. True creativity is born from a place where you don’t know what’s going to happen. Your spontaneity is a gift in this way. You know that magic comes from not having it all figured out.”

Okay sweet friends. It’s your turn. Give it a shot and tell me what you discover in the comments!

Let’s date! I mean, let’s do it! 😉 And could you forward this note to anyone in your life you think could benefit from it?

I’ve been dating (mostly online) for the last few years and according to my friends, I am having a freakishly positive experience. I will be sharing lots of personal stories (juicy, tender + hilarious ones!) and creating a space where we can learn how to use our dating experiences to grow our courage, hone our intuition and cultivate more joy. In other words, there is a way to have dating be a delicious and meaningful end in and of itself and not just a means to an end.

Oh boy. Dating is a wild ride, isn’t it? All that Tindering and matching and swiping can feel like too much sometimes… and leave us feeling jaded and resigned. More disconnected than connected. More fatigued than energized.

But… what if dating was one of the surest ways to grow your superpowers? To build your courage, to grow your voice, to hone your intuition and feel more joy?

I believe dating is SUPER rich territory for personal growth. It’s accelerated soul work and a huge opportunity to lean into your authentic spirit and feel more self-love, power and aliveness right now. Not when you get the guy or the girl. But right now.

This workshop is for all you badass babes out there.

We know you because you are our people! You are wise + kind + brave and wondering why the heck you are still dating… You might be feeling frustrated and lost and tempted to stop trying altogether.

We get it. And we are here to bring more ease and joy into the process.

Here’s the good news folks: We don’t have to wait for perfect circumstances to be able to find a place of ease inside.

Have you ever had an experience that was supposed to be “hard” but turned out to be pretty lovely? I’m going to give you an example. But first, let me tell you about a ritual we used to do with Ben before he would go to sleep at night. It went something like this:

Ben: “What was your favorite part of the day?”
Me: “My favorite part was riding that big bicycle along the water.”
Ben: “That was my favorite part!”
Ben: “What was your favorite part daddy?”
Matt: “Let’s see, my favorite part was swimming in the pool with you.”
Ben: “That was my favorite part too!”

As you can probably tell, whatever you would say, it would be Ben’s favorite part too. After doing this for a while, I noticed a little habit of collecting favorite parts throughout the day to bring home to Ben.

As I headed to the doctor’s lab waiting to get my blood drawn one day, I thought of our ritual and started looking for favorite parts. Driving around for twenty minutes looking for parking? Not my favorite part. Getting blood drawn? Definitely not gonna be my favorite part, I thought. (I get super nervous and usually cry or pass out when I get a blood test)

But I imagined seeing the same moment through Ben’s eyes… and while I was with the technician I imagined how this could be my favorite part. As this question entered my mind, I saw the sweetness in the man’s eyes when I told him I didn’t feel well and I saw how connected he was when the tears started pouring down my face.

I noticed how he held my gaze and said, “You are safe with me. Nothing is going to happen to you. I’ve got you…”and how that made me cry even more. (Who was this angel man?) I noticed how he tried to talk to me about Alicia Keys, about how she was classically trained and writes her own songs and most artists don’t do that and how she deserved those Grammy’s… and I understood that he was trying to keep my mind on something else… I noticed all of it. And because I asked myself how this could be my favorite part, I could see something holy in it.

I could see how the favorite parts aren’t necessarily just the fun ones, but the ones where we see beyond the superficial into the sacred.

Our experience is often about where we put our attention. And the stories we layer on to an otherwise neutral occurrence. Blood draw. Just is. Totally neutral.

But I arrived at the clinic with a particular narrative- Blood draws. Bad. I hate blood draws. Blood draws scare me. I pass out when I get shots. Why do I have to do this? Poor me. What if the person doesn’t know what they’re doing? I hate this.

What made the difference was interrupting that habitual story with a new one – even for a moment – in the form of a question. What if this was my favorite part of the day? (That’s crazy, some part of me responded. Impossible.)

But I held the question just long enough to notice this man’s face. His compassion. His willingness to see me not as his next “patient” but as another vulnerable human being sitting with him. This pause, this moment suspended, was enough to open up a little oasis – one where the story became different.

We mostly miss these moments.

But one of the gifts of being vulnerable is that we are cracked open. Even just a little bit. We are porous. Kindness (even the smallest varieties) can seep in more easily. When I am the most vulnerable I notice even the smallest gestures and my heart fills with gratitude. Vulnerable moments are the best places to practice this.

Have you had a moment like the one I described?

A moment when you were vulnerable, softer than usual, maybe even cracked open + someone offered you something from their heart? Something real, something kind, and you were able to let it in? Maybe it was even your favorite part? A moment of ease, well-being, connection, intimacy inside a very imperfect circumstance.

I have goals + dreams of course, but when I ask myself how I want to feel? It’s spacious, buoyant, joyful… as much of the time as possible.

So many of us are addicted to struggle… we think life needs to be hard, or that we need to work hard for what we have for it to have any value.

I believe in ease.

I believe that when I am creating from a place of ease and buoyancy I am actually in flow – in alignment with myself and the Universe. Things feel more fun and playful. I enjoy my life more. I am able to be more present. I am in delicious co-creation with the universe.

Are you calling in more ease this year too?

If so, join me and a classroom full of kindred spirits for five weeks of creating more ease in your life right now – no matter what your circumstances are.

In this course, we will explore:

Week #1: The Mindset of EaseWhat if this was fun and easy? This is a question I ask myself all the time. It immediately rights my ship and helps me find an elegant solution to whatever I am wrestling with. This week will be about shifting our mindset from one of struggle to one of ease.

Week #2: Clearing Space
Clearing our physical space + our calendar to make more room for ease. We will explore setting boundaries, perfectionism and we will identify where we can make space for simplicity. We will practice allowing things to be good enough, not perfect.

Week #3: Cultivating Self-CompassionThis is possibly the most important of all. Creating a habit of relating to ourselves with kindness.

Week #4: Getting into Alignment and Flow
Alignment is the new hustle peeps!
We will look at creating from the quantum model – one where we get into alignment before we take action. It’s not about more effort equals more results, it’s about right effort equals right results.

Week #5: How Authenticity Creates Ease
Leaning into who we actually are. Identifying our strengths + gifts and allowing what feels most organic and natural to us to be front and center. We will also explore how our perceived flaws can be our gold.

The ease + delight begins Monday, February 5th, 2018 – just $99

P.S. If you don’t like to read all the mumbo jumbo, here it is in one sentence (easy peasy!) – 5 weeks of creating more joy through adopting an ease mindset, growing our self-compassion and clearing space for what we truly want! It’s going to be life-shifting and good.